Whether exuberant or elegantly subtle, planting design plays a consequential role in generating the aesthetic experience of landscape architecture. Today, however, issues of sustainability, resilience, and social justice have sidelined the interest in planting design as an essential element of study and practice. While gardens exploring the creative use of plants for aesthetic effect receive ample attention, this has been less true for landscape architecture at greater scale, where surface areas are often extensive and constituencies greater than the single client or family. To redress this neglect, and reaffirm its primacy, this symposium will visit contemporary planting design through the words and works of landscape architects with practices both creative and responsible. Through the insightful use of form, color, and patterns of growth, they have produced attractive, engaging, and enduring landscapes at a broad range of scales and contexts.

The two-day symposium The Aesthetics of Planting Design will host twelve accomplished landscape architects and historians who will discuss planting design as an environmental art, using examples drawn from their own design work as well as projects by others, both contemporary and historical: from the United States, Latin America, Europe, and Scandinavia; from southern deserts to northern forests; from within and beyond the city; from the garden to the region.

A reception will follow the close of the symposium.

Speakers

Click speaker's name for more information

Thorbjörn Andersson / Stockholm, Sweden

Thorbjörn Andersson has practiced landscape architecture since 1981, having completed his professional studies in landscape architecture, architecture, and art history in Sweden and the United States. He is best known for his designs of urban public spaces, a selection of which were published in the book Platser/Places in 2003. Recent projects include the Physic Garden at Novartis, Basel, Switzerland; the Umeå University Campus Park; Hyllie Plaza, Malmo; Sjövik Plaza, Stockholm; and Sandgrund park, Karlstad. Andersson was also a founding editor of the journal Utblick Landskap, and continued as an editor for 17 years.

Cristina Castel-Branco / Lisbon, Portugal

Cristina Castel-Branco received her degree in landscape architecture from the University of Agronomy in Lisbon. Under the auspices of a FulbrightITT grant, she received a masters degree in landscape architecture from the University of Massachusetts, and thereafter a doctorate focused on garden history. While a professor at the Instituto Superior de Agronomia, she has researched and published on subjects in landscape architecture history, heritage, and restoration, with a specialization in Portuguese landscapes. In addition to serving on several on the boards of several cultural and governmental organizations she maintains an active professional practice in Lisbonthe renovation of the Ajuda botanical garden in Belem being one of its most significant works.

Alexandre Chemetoff / Paris, France

Alexandre Chemetoff is a landscape architect, urban designer, and landscape artist whose practice has spanned scales from the garden to the city to the region. Among his many premiated projects are the designs for the redevelopment of the central island in Nantes, the renewal and reformation of neighborhoods and social housing in Nancy, and the celebrated Bamboo Garden at the Parc de la Villette in Paris. For a number of years he also taught at the École nationale supérieure de paysage in Versailles; in 2000, he received the French Grand Prix de l'urbanisme.

Andrea Cochran / San Francisco, California

Andrea Cochran received her masters in landscape architecture from Harvard Universitys Graduate School of Design and opened her own landscape architecture practice in 1998. Her work is characterized by a strong sense of logic and appropriateness to site and climate, as well as its sensitive use and mixture of plant. In recognition of its logic, refinement, and appropriate ecology, she has received continuous professional recognition including numerous awards from the American Society of Landscape Architects.

Kate Cullity / Adelaide, Australia

Kate Cullity, a founding director of Taylor Cullity Lethlean (TCL), is a landscape architect and environmental artist with a particular interest in the integration of public art with landscape and urban design. Her background in botany and continued personal interest in horticulture have resulted in her involvement in the planting design of sites throughout Australia, including the Royal Melbourne Botanical Garden in Cranbourne and the North Terrace in Adelaide. Over the last two decades TCL continued as one of the leading landscape and urban design firms in Australia receiving numerous awards, both in Australia and internationally.

Erik Dhont / Brussels, Belgium

Photo: Delvaulx-Lejeune garden, Overijse, Belgium, 2005

Erik Dhont has designed a wide variety of projects throughout continental Europe and the United States, for private clients, public bodies, and commercial institutions. His designs, in which further the Belgian garden tradition, are characterized by a precision in planning and execution, and the use of shrubs and hedges as sculptural forms as well as a vehicle for spatial definition. His studies of abstract form have tested the limits of horticulture and have been exhibited as artworks in and of themselves, most recently at Bozars in Brussels in 2016.

Richard Hindle / Berkeley, California

Richard Hindle, an assistant professor in Berkeleys Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning, has particular interests in ecological technology, planting design, and site design. His research explores landscape-related technologies across a range of scales, from large-scale mappings of riverine and coastal patents to detailed historical studies on the antecedents of vegetated architectural systems.

Laurie Olin / Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Photo: Getty Center, Los Angeles, 1998

Laurie Olin, Professor of Practice at the University of Pennsylvania, is a landscape architect, urban designer, and prolific author, who has practiced for half a century in the United States and abroad. Among his many signature projects, are the redesign of Bryant Park in New York City, the Washington Monument Grounds in Washington, DC, and more recently the, Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia and the Apple new campus in Cupertino. In addition to numerous articles and critical essays, he is also the author of Across the Open Field: Essays Drawn from English Landscapes.

Tim Richardson / London, England

Tim Richardson is among Britains most significant garden historians and critics, with seemingly countless contributions to newspapers and garden and professional journals. His books include Avant Gardeners, Futurescapes, and The Arcadian Friends, a classic study of the English landscape garden and its makers. You Should Have Been Here Last Week, a collection of his published writings, appeared earlier this year. Richardson also founded and directs the Chelsea Fringe Festival, an alternative event intended to expand the perception of landscapes in London and throughout Great Britain.

Mario Schjetnan / Mexico City, Mexico

Photo: Bicentennial Park, Mexico City, Mexico, 2011

Mario Schjetnan is an architect and landscape architect who strives to unite in his practice social concerns, aesthetics, and ecology, while reinterpreting and celebrating Mexican culture. His interdisciplinary firm Grupo de Diseño Urbano, is known for designs in which buildings are subordinate to the landscape. Among his awards are the Prince of Wales/Green Prize in Urban Design for Xochimilco Ecological Park, and the ASLA President's Award for Excellence, for Parque El Cedazo. He recently received the International Federation of Landscape Architects Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe Medal for lifetime achievement in landscape architecture.

Christy Ten Eyck / Austin, Texas

Photo: Biodesign Institute, ASU, Tempe, Arizona, 2008

Christine Ten Eyck, a fellow of the ASLA, is known for innovative landscape designs that address and interpret the arid climate of the American Southwest. Her commissions span various scales, from the garden to the university, for example the several outstanding projects on the campus of Arizona State University in Tempe. Her work is characterized by a concern for ecology, water consumption, and the use of indigenous plants. Also committed to advancing landscape architectural practice and education, Ten Eyck has lectured at various conferences and for several institutions, and has served on several governmental and professional committees.

Peter Walker / Berkeley, California

Photo: Barangararoo Reserve, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 2016

Over his six decades of practice Peter Walker has designed hundreds of landscapes, taught at several universities, chaired the landscape architecture departments at Berkeley and Harvard, lectured widely, written, and served as advisor to numerous public agencies. The scope of his concerns ranges from the small garden to the planning of citieswith a particular emphasis on corporate headquarters, plazas, cultural gardens, academic campuses, and urban-regeneration projects. The awards his firms have received are too numerous to list, but they include IFLAs Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe Medal for lifetime achievement in landscape architecture. In addition to a very active practice, Walker also initiated the foundation of the CEO Roundtable, the journal LandForum, and the mounting of the landmark LandForum conference held in San Francisco in 1997.

Fees - THE EVENT IS SOLD OUT. THANK YOU!

Students of the University of California, Berkeley: $20. [ID required]
Students of others schools: $30. [ID required]
Faculty of the University of California, Berkeley: $40. [ID required]
Faculty of other schools: $50. [ID required]
All others: $100.
Registration is required and limited to 175.

DIRECTIONS &amp; DINING

Wurster Hall

Driving Directions

The College of Environmental Design is located in Wurster Hall, in the southeast quadrant of the University of California, Berkeley, campus, near the intersection of Bancroft Way and College Avenue. UC Berkeley is close to many Bay Area freeways, including I-80, I-580, I-880, Hwy 13, and Hwy 24. You can connect to these freeways from I-5 and US 101. The directions below begin when you have reached the East Bay from points north, south, and east.

Parking

Street parking in the neighborhood surrounding Wurster Hall is controlled by parking restrictions (e.g., two hour limits). If you park in the City of Berkeley, please check carefully for posted parking restrictions. Most parking meters now take quarters, nickels and dimes.

The following list of public parking lots located near Wurster Hall will help you if street parking is unavailable. These lots are also indicated on the downloadable Campus Map. All lots require a fee for parking. Parking is at your own risk:

College Avenue between Bancroft Way and Durant Avenue (east side of street)
Bancroft Way between College Avenue and Bowditch Street (left side of street)
Bancroft Way between Bowditch Street and Telegraph Avenue (left side of street)
Bancroft Way between Telegraph Avenue and Dana Street (right side of street)
Durant Avenue/Channing Way between Ellsworth Street and Dana Street
Channing Way between Ellsworth Street and Dana Street

Public Transportation

If youre coming to campus via BART, get off at the Berkeley Station (also known as the Downtown Berkeley station) along the Richmond line; it drops you off one block from the west side of campus. From nearby Shattuck and Addison Streets, you can catch a BearTransit shuttle, which will let you off along the perimeter of campus, including near the Law School. On average, this shuttle departs every fifteen minutes. For more information on using BART, visit www.bart.gov. Alternatively, you can take the AC Transit Bus lines 1 or 51B that drop you off along the south edge of campus, including a stop near Wurster Hall For those who enjoy walking, the west entrance to the Berkeley campus is only one block away from the Downtown Berkeley BART Station. Wurster Hall is on the far side of the campus, about a 15-20 minute walk.

Users who are experiencing registration difficulties with the RegOnline system should call RegOnline support at: (800) 473-6748, extension 1, RegOnline Support (option), and reference event number 2066025